Beatrice Hackett Dies at 66

Beatrice Nied Hackett, 66, an anthropologist and author who served on the faculty at American University from 1989 to 1995, died of breast cancer June 11 at her home in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

Mrs. Hackett, who also lived in Washington, was anthropologist-in-residence at AU and an assistant professor there.

She was the author of a 1993 book, "Pray God and Keep Walking," based on the stories of Cambodian Chinese female refugees who were resettled in the United States after the war in Vietnam.

For seven years beginning in 1979, she was director of the D.C. Community Humanities Council, the state-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

She then went back to college, and in 1988, she received a doctorate in anthropology at AU.

She was born in St. Louis and attended St. Louis University. She left college in 1954 to marry Clifford Hackett, and she later accompanied him to graduate school and to Army and Foreign Service assignments in Germany; New Haven, Conn.; Switzerland; and the Congo.

In 1964, they settled in Washington, and Mrs. Hackett graduated from George Washington University.

She worked part time for a public opinion research company, then received a master's degree in anthropology from AU.

Mrs. Hackett was active in the peace movement and in community affairs on Capitol Hill.

She built a second home at Berkeley Springs in 1981 and was co-chairwoman of an interfaith relief committee there that worked to settle a Bosnian family. The family arrived in the United States last year.

In addition to her husband, of Washington and Berkeley Springs, survivors include eight children, Nancy Hackett of Leesburg, David Hackett of Sterling, Christopher Hackett, Carole Hackett Katinas, Peter Hackett, Andrew Hackett and Roger Hackett, all of Washington, and Claire Hackett Adams of Arlington; a sister, Dorothy Nied of Washington; and 11 grandchildren.